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Scholarly Publishing Perspectives: NISO & STM Recap

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Scholarly Publishing Perspectives: Recap of the NISO and STM Meetings

– by Guest Blogger Tim Cross –

In the community of Scholarly Publishing, April and May are often called the conference season, and several high profile conferences are sometimes lightheartedly referred to as the “rodeo circuit.” While the travel can be grueling, particularly for those who are traveling to the US from abroad, many of my colleagues see these conferences as a critical annual ritual, given the intense concentration of educational and networking opportunities, as well as important industry announcements. This year is no exception.

In late April, I attended both a NISO Live Event on XML for Standards Publishers and the STM Annual US Conference in Washington, DC. Below are a few of the noteworthy developments which came out of these two conferences:

The NISO (National Information Standards Organization) meeting was held at the Library of Congress on April 24. It was helpful in articulating the value of XML workflows and deliverables for standards publishers. Several key topics were covered, including the importance of structure versus display, production efficiency, interoperability, and the need for a standards format that allows content to be more easily monetized and repurposed for a variety of print and digital deliverables.  Another important component of the meeting was the announced launch of the new NISO-STS, which has now been released for public comment. The goal of the new STS (Standard Tag Suite) is to provide “a common XML format that standards developers, publishers, and distributors can use to publish and exchange full-text content and metadata of standards.”

Following the NISO event, I traveled across town to the STM Annual US Conference at the National Press Club, where this year’s theme was “The Decade of The Researcher.” A big topic this year was Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how AI, combined with human intelligence, can increase the efficiency and accuracy of everything from peer review and fraud detection, to efficiency in research. Other topics included the reproducibility crisis, current gaps and future needs of researchers, fostering global scientific collaboration, trends in peer review, block chain technology, and a panel on the STM Tech Trends 2021. The most engaging topic for me was a discussion of the RA21 initiative. We will be hearing a lot more about this in the days to come. Resource Access for the 21st Century (RA21) is a “joint STM – NISO initiative aimed at optimizing protocols across key stakeholder groups, with a goal of facilitating a seamless user experience for consumers of scientific communication.” In other words, how can the scholarly community solve the challenges facing researchers and publishers as they wrestle with the design of authentication protocols that can both grant access to content and protect privacy?

Which conferences and meetings will you be attending to learn more about the challenges and opportunities in scholarly publishing that interest or concern you the most? As the conference season continues, the next few weeks will find me at the Council of Science Editors (CSE) Annual Meeting starting May 19 in San Diego, followed by the Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting on May 31 in Boston. Westchester Publishing Services will be hosting a session on May 31 at SSP, get more details here.

If your “rodeo circuit” includes either CSE or SSP, drop me an email at tim.cross@westchesterpubsvcs.com to arrange a convenient time to meet. I’d welcome the opportunity to have a discussion with you about the ever-evolving trends in scholarly communication and publishing, and the role that Westchester Publishing Services can play in supporting the mission of your organization.

The month of May always tends to be busy here at Westchester Publishing Services, and this year is no different. This week, we announced the addition of Kevin J. Gray to our team. Kevin will be leading our newly launched division, Westchester K-12 Publishing Services as Director, K-12 Publishing Services.

Our K-12 development and production group is a natural growth extension of the editorial and production services we have been providing to our clients for nearly 50 years. Westchester K-12 Publishing Services offers a complete range of product development services to support educational publishers. Kevin brings with him a wealth of experience from other well-known publisher services companies, along with a strong desire to deliver outstanding products and services to the K-12 educational market. We’re pleased to have someone of Kevin’s caliber to head up this important initiative for Westchester Publishing Services.

You can read more about Kevin and Westchester K-12 Publishing Services in this press release

Visit our website to learn more about the products and services available from Westchester K-12 Publishing Services, and if you’re attending the upcoming Content In Context conference later this month in Philadelphia, be sure to stop by our booth to meet Kevin.

Tim Cross, Business Development Manager at Westchester Publishing Services, will be the host of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) spring Scholarly Kitchen Webinar: The Future of Access, Authentication and Privacy, to be broadcast on May 9, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time.

Tim is the chair of the Society for Scholarly Publishing Webinars Working Group, and works with members of the Education Committee and “chefs” (bloggers) of The Scholarly Kitchen to facilitate the webinars, determine content, and recruit moderators and speakers. SSP’S The Scholarly Kitchen is a moderated and independent blog aimed at bringing together differing opinions, commentary, and ideas to advance scholarly publishing and communication.

Moderator Roger C. Schonfeld, Director, Libraries and Scholarly Communication Program, Ithaka S+R, will lead a discussion with Ken Varnum, Senior Program Manager for Discovery, Delivery, and Library Analytics, University of Michigan Library and Ralph Youngen, Director, Publishing Systems Integration, American Chemical Society  to discuss the challenges facing researchers and publishers as they wrestle with the design of authentication protocols that can both grant access to content and protect privacy.

Perhaps the most important lesson learned from Sci-Hub is that the current technology stack and access paradigm has proven itself to be insecure. Today, there are cooperative efforts from publishers, librarians, technology providers and other stakeholders, attempting to find solutions that will work for all parties. This webinar will look at those efforts, discuss the goals and focus on the careful balances that must be struck between identification and privacy.

To find out more information about SSP’s webinar series or to register for the May 9 Scholarly Kitchen webinar, click here

Conference season is underway in the publishing industry, and Westchester Publishing Services is pleased to share that Tim Cross, Business Development Manager, will be attending the NISO Live Connections Event, as well as the International STM Conference, both of which are taking place in Washington D.C.

The focus of the NISO (National Information Standards Organization) Live Connections Event on Monday, April 24, 2017 is the topic of XML for Standards Publishers. The event features several speakers from the publishing and information technology fields, discussion panels, and a Q&A session.

The International STM Conference takes place April 25-27, 2017. The Society Day kicks off the conference on Tuesday, April 25, and the scholarly community will review common issues, challenges and opportunities. The key topics that will be focused on, are Research Literacy and Science Communication, Operational Excellence, and Selecting & Managing Vendors. STM’s Annual US Conference starts at the conclusion of the Society Day on Tuesday afternoon, and continues through Thursday, April 27. The conference theme is The Future Decade of the Researcher. Presenters and panels will discuss and review different ways the scholarly publishing community can better meet the current and future needs of researchers.

Tim is looking forward to seeing our clients and prospective partners at these upcoming events, and discussing current trends in the scholarly publishing space.  If you would like to schedule some time with Tim at either conference to discuss your publications program, please Contact Us. We’ll be attending several other conferences throughout the year – see Where is Westchester in 2017.

“Composition is not a commodity; it’s something that matters, both to the author and the reader.”

I have just returned from the London Book Fair, where I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with Westchester Publishing Services’ current and prospective publishing partners to learn more about their editorial and production needs, and share the ways Westchester can help simplify their processes.

According to veteran attendees, the London Book Fair this year seemed more active than usual. Publishers Weekly did a thorough job covering many of the hot topics being discussed at the conference, with articles covering subjects as diverse as publishing in times of political uncertainty, to growth in the industry. In addition, The Bookseller considered the impact of the Fair’s return to the Olympia London for the first time in over a decade.

Having a prime location next to the LBF Faculty sessions on scholarly publishing ensured the Westchester stand received a steady stream of traffic, including from prospects who may have heard from Westchester in the past, and were now able to meet with us in person. We enjoyed talking to everyone who visited our booth, whether they had a scheduled appointment or happened to drop by. We socialized online as well, posting regularly to Twitter, encouraging #LBF17 attendees to stop by and meet our new mascot, Wes T. Chester. (See photo, below.) Don’t fret if you weren’t in London though, Wes is a jet-setter and will attend BEA in New York City at the end of May!

I visit the U.K whenever I can, for work and some cultural travel as well. When I pass through Heathrow to fly home, if I have a few pounds left in my pockets I make it a point to stop by W.H. Smith’s and invest in a paperback or two to enjoy on my flight. Westchester typesets books for publishers in both the U.S. and U.K., but growing up in the States I always enjoy the slightly different tactile feel and format of a British book. One of the books I happened to pick up on this trip was one I’ve read many times, but given away all my copies of over the years – The Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. It was fortuitous I chose this title, as the 2004 HarperCollins U.K. paperback edition contains an opening essay by Douglas A. Anderson about the evolution of Tolkien’s work from edition to edition. Anderson writes a compelling account about the history of events which occurred, from Tolkien’s manuscript initially being mishandled by its initial typesetter, to the variations that sprang up from U.S. and U.K. versions of the book over the years, with words being changed, entire sections being dropped, and other typesetting errors which naturally irritated Tolkien. In between writing his subsequent works, Tolkien spent a great deal of time annotating pages in existing editions for his publishers to incorporate into reprints. Reading of Tolkien’s struggles with this title after talking with publishers all week at the London Book Fair about the quality of Westchester’s work, brought into sharp focus something I’ve been saying for years:

“Composition is not a commodity; it’s something that matters, both to the author and the reader.”

I’m proud of the work that Westchester does to help Macmillan, W.W. Norton, Bloomsbury, ABC-CLIO, Springer Publishing, Harvard University Press, and dozens of other publishers present their content in a high quality and accurate way to their readers. Call me today at 203-658-6581, or email me at tyler.carey@westchesterpubsvcs.com to learn how Westchester Publishing Services can help improve your publications program.

Learn more about Westchester Publishing Services here.